Monday, October 22, 2007

Kaleidoscope o' Kool-Aid

Okay, so I jumped on the bandwagon rather late, but who knew that dying yarn with Kool-Aid could be oh so satisfying?

Ahem, I know the answer to that question. Pretty much everyone but me.

I have an excuse for my Kool-Aid sloth, should you care to indulge me. What the hell, I share it with you anyway.

A long time ago, at a university not so far from here, there was a young lady who majored in cloth. And this young lady, not of the cloth, but rather in the cloth, was quite interested in learning all that she could about the drapery in which she was swathed. So, the lady took many a lesson until all the mysteries of the woolly and woven world were revealed. And the lady revelled in her new found knowledge, weaving and carding and painting warps, knitting, crocheting and printing with screens, sewing and spinning and dying strings!

So yeah, I learned my way around the dye pot, and though I loved playing and painting with dyes, I remember the prep involved. The toxicity of those powders. The mess. The space needed (of which I am sorely lacking that at the moment). At any rate, because of my dye-hard experiences from a LadyLinoleum past, I'm a bit of a purist, literally believing the Kool-Aid dye frenzy of the last few years blasphemous...

A girl can change her mind you know!

It just takes a persuasive friend...

Many, many packets of unsweetened L-aid...



And a sense of adventure!

Oh, and a hot soak in a tub...



Or two...



It was about this time that I began to kick the whole Kool-Aid thang up a notch.

What if I mixed a few packets of differing colors?

How about Lemon-Lime and Mango?



Or Grape and Black Cherry?



Or how about an over-dye of that weird blue flavor?



Top it off with a few double dips...





And I finished the day with a drying rack of full of fruity scented goodness!



Dare I say it?

Yep.

Linoleum finally got L-Aid.

24 comments:

naomi said...

Wow, they look real purty. Bet they smell good too !

Anonymous said...

Which one was the blue?? That's gorgeous!

Gina said...

ooohhhh pretty!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

I had no idea it would be so Pretty! I, too, was something of purist. Okay, now I have to try it.

Rowan

Laurie Ann said...

Ooooo, the lemon-lime is gorgeous. Well, they all are, actually. I have not tried the ole Kool Aid dye yet either despite having undyed wool for just that purpose.

Anonymous said...

Fun, fun, fun! Beautiful colors!

LinknKnits said...

I almost want to say that your yarn looks edible... except, ewww... who eats kool-aid? ;-) But the yarn does look fab!

Diane Gilleland said...

Oh, this just rocks! Your yarns are so beautiful, and like Naomi, I found myself wondering what kind of fruit aromatic wonderland your house ended up being afterwards. Thanks so much for sharing - I'm just gonna have to do this one day...

FinnyKnits said...

You may be late the game (hey, I'm a no-show altogether) but, of course, you're already a pro. Look how hot hot HOT those colors are? That orange is downright tasty.

Pretty pretty pretty.

Deneen said...

Isn't it so darn addictive? I have more fun with Kool-Aid than with Wiltons (the colors are more predictable for me and don't run like mad).

stuffed said...

Kool-Aid dyed yarn is really good for making knit boobs. Just saying.

How's your air up there? Hard to breathe here. /fireside chat

Crafty Andy said...

Does it make a difference between unsweetened and sweetened? YOu did a great job. You have created a wave for everyone to go and buy Kool Aid now lol!

crabbycrocheter said...

what yarn did you use?

sgeddes said...

You got some pretty results! I've never tried it - I had no idea the results would be so nice.

Miranda said...

Oh, they are very pretty! I can hardly make kool-aid (to drink) with out some part of me being stained.. And when I was younger, like 10 years ago, it was very kool to dye your hair with kool-aid (I never did it, I must not have been very cool)...What happens when you wash the yarn?

LadyLinoleum said...

Angharad - Berry Blue.

Deneen - Totally addictive!

Stuffed - Air is not so good.

Andy - Unsweetened.

Jean M - Lion Brand Fisherman's Wool and Cascade 200 Ecru. I have purchased some Knitpicks yarn though for my next batch!

Miranda - The dyed yarn is completely colorfast. I washed each batch in gentle detergent and no color came out at all.

E said...

I just started experimenting with Kool Aid dyeing a couple of months ago...Isn't it fun???

Though I could do without the smell of boiled fruit punch in my small apartment...*grin* Or the strange looks from the cashier at the grocery store when I buy a million packets of the stuff!!

Jen said...

I need to go back and find the link I bookmarked with instructions on this now and try it, lol...

Crafty Christina said...

Those look awesome! I'm going to have to try that.

Carol said...

Holy cow! They're gorgeous! Kool Aid....Oh Yeah!

Maggii said...

Oh Wow...those all turned out great...what beautiful colors!!!

shula said...

I wish we got kool air here.

sigh.

Anonymous said...

hi would like to know the step by step on how to dye yarn using Kool Aid? would very much appreciate it, thanks!
my email addy is jinky.flaviano@gmail.com

Anonymous said...

you are so creative! <333